India's Direct Tax Collection Rises 18 Per Cent To Rs 11.07 Trillion

CBDT chief Nitin Gupta said the department was "in correspondence" with such taxpayers and it is their aim to expeditiously resolve these issues

According to official data for assessment year 2023-24, a total of 7.27 crore ITRs were filed out of which 7.15 crore were verified by the taxpayers and the department has processed 6.80 crore ITRs out of these.

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The government's direct tax collections rose 17.95 per cent on the year to Rs 11.07 trillion in the period from April 1 to October 9, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. 

According to the government release, Direct Tax collection, net of refunds, stands at Rs 9.57 lakh crore which is 21.82 per cent higher than the net collections for the comparable period of last year. This collection is 52.50 per cent of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for FY23-24.

So far, as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) in terms of gross revenue collections is concerned, the growth rate for CIT is 7.30 per cent, while that for PIT is 29.53 per cent (PIT only)/ 29.08 per cent (PIT including STT). After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 12.39 per cent and that in PIT collections is 32.51 per cent (PIT only)/ 31.85 per cent (PIT including STT).

Refunds amounting to Rs 1.50 lakh crore have been issued during April 1, 2023 to October 9, 2023.

Meanwhile, Nitin Gupta, chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), on Tuesday said about 35 lakh cases for issuance of refunds are currently "held up" with the Income Tax (I-T) Department owing to mismatch and validation of the taxpayers' bank accounts and the taxman is reaching out such assessees via a special call centre, PTI reported. The direct taxes body chief said the department was "in correspondence" with such taxpayers and it is their aim to expeditiously resolve these issues.

"We want to credit the refunds to the correct bank accounts of the taxpayers quickly," he said. Asked during an interaction about instances where refunds are stuck as taxpayers were getting old demands pertaining to years around 2010-11, Gupta said the department had undergone a technology shift around 2011, from paper-based registers to computers, and hence some of those old demands were showing up in the accounts of the assessees.

"We have started a unique demand management facilitation system about a year back for all such cases where refunds are held up due to a variety of reasons. An email is triggered to the taxpayer saying they will get a call three days from the dispatch of the email from a particular number and following this conversation, the issues are being resolved," he said. "We have resolved 1.4 lakh such entries over the last year following this Mysuru-based call centre interaction and the taxpayer can either accept the demand or contest it," the CBDT head said.

Initially, this call centre was working for four of our ranges of Karnataka and Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and the north-west region but we plan to expand it further to other regions and cities, he said.

The CBDT is the administrative body for the I-T department. Apart from the record update at the end of the department or the assessing officer, there are two more reasons for refunds being held up, Gupta said.

In some cases refunds are held up because the taxpayer has not validated their bank account, either the bank has merged or the assessee has changed cities and the IFSC has changed, he said. "We urge the taxpayers to get their bank accounts validated. We have about 35 lakh cases where such mismatch has been detected and we are in touch with such taxpayers through official communication channels and the call centre as well," he said.

According to official data for assessment year 2023-24, a total of 7.27 crore ITRs were filed out of which 7.15 crore were verified by the taxpayers and the department has processed 6.80 crore ITRs out of these. About 93.5 per cent of duly verified ITRs have been processed till now, the data said.

Talking about the ITR-U or income tax return-updated that was introduced by the Union government in Budget 2022-23, Gupta said the department has collected 1,300 crore in additional tax after 16.8 lakh such returns were filed by taxpayers during the current financial year of 2023-24. He was also asked about the new tax regime which the Union government brought out during the last Budget.